New People For New Lives
by nicksy-tricksy
Summary: AU - Both Emily and Paige are trying to figure out what to do right after you leave college, how to start a new life of their own, suppoort themselves, follow their dreams and most important: How to be happy in the middle of all this. A story about these girls trying to understand how to be adults.


_First fic guys, so any coments in how to improve or something that you didn't understand would be deeply apreciated. I'm just a big fan of this couple and wanted to imagine them out of the show. Hope you guys like it. _

**Chapter 1**: Apartment hunting and a new Paige

"That's it, I'm living with my parents forever!" said an exhausted Emily, after 4 straight hours of apartment hunting.

"Don't give up just yet, Em" Said Spencer.

"What's your definition for 'yet' exactly? It's been months Spencer, and either I find a great place in a horrible place or the other way around" Emily said looking up to the sky, like asking for an answer

"The answer won't fall from the..." Emily wasn't listening anymore, she focused on a moving dot, that she thought it might've been her eyes, but then the it grew bigger and bigger until it hit her face and like waking up from a dream she shook her head getting whatever that was out of her face.

"What the hell is this?" after she took it off of her face she opened and it turned out to be a part of the paper from one week ago, very ironically, where the ads of apartments were.

"Hey, look there's one near here" Spencer pointed to an ad of an apartment two blocks away from where they were. "Don't you wanna go there to check?"

"No, I went there last week when this ad came up, it was perfect but way expensive and somewhat big for only one person"

"Alright, I'm done for the day, I need to get back, you coming?" Spencer stood up and looked at her waiting

"No, it's ok, I think I'll stay for a few more minutes, I'm definitely not in a hurry to meet my mom, again" Spencer couldn't help but laugh at Emily's expression. "See you tomorrow then, bye"

"Bye"

Emily couldn't stand her mother anymore, ever since she moved back in, her mother wouldn't let her breath, wanted her room always tidy, always wanted to talk, about everything. She loved her parents, she really did, but they kind of suffocated her, and her mom had in her mind that she needed to compensate her father's being away, and got even more protective, they've been treating her like a child, but in spite of all that she was able to find a job at a gym, as a personal trainer, the good thing is that she didn't need to work every day, only the days she had a client.

During the first years at college she shared a dorm room with a girl named Kelly, they hadn't gotten close over the years, but they did get along, never scooped into each other's lives and never judged, or made inappropriate questions, after that she decided to move in with her college boyfriend, Matt. A not so good decision, it only lasted five months, and when it was over, so was her relationship, finally she decided to share a house with a group of girls from one of her classes, that was the best way, she lived there until the end of her studies. But when it was over, Emily didn't really have everything figured out, she didn't have a job, she had an internship at a famous gym, near there, but they weren't interested in hiring her after that.

Her closest friends, from high school had all pretty different lives that Emily didn't really see her into. Hannah got married pretty early with Caleb but they lived happily and always traveling, or because of her work as an actress or because the company Caleb had been working wanted them to.

Spencer was taking a break between college and a masters that she was going to start in a couple of months in another state, and Aria was teaching in a school not so far from rosewood, so she was the one Emily saw more often. She has been feeling like everybody had their lives all sorted out and she was lost, she liked being a personal trainer but it didn't feel all that special, not to her, so she decided that she needed to change, and she'd start that by moving out, the hard thing was, to find a place within her financial situation, that has been proved to be very difficult.

After taking a moment just to breath she decided to go back home, as she was walking she remembered the day she went check that apartment on the paper, very good one, two rooms, a not so big kitchen together with the living room and a service area that was small but enough, it looked like a family could live there, like it wasn't meant for just one person, and the rent, definitely not for only one person, most importantly, not for her and her salary.

Thinking about it and the other apartments, Emily continued walking home and ironically she passed in front of the apartment from the paper and noticed that the "renting" sign wasn't there anymore, probably a couple bought it, it should be a nice place for a couple to live in. Emily stared at the window on the third floor, that according to what she remembered it should've been from this apartment, for one second she got herself daydreaming about living there, all that room for herself, when she saw a red-haired woman near the window, _so she was the one who bought this apartment_ Emily thought.

Not knowing why, Emily stood there watching the girl, _a beautiful girl for a beautiful place_, that girl, in Emily's mind, matched the apartment, looking at her up there it's like she could've been living there for her whole life. Emily got lost in her thoughts and when she called herself back to Earth she found out that she was looking back at her, for how long? Emily had no idea. The normal thing to do would be to stop looking and keep walking, but she didn't. Why was this girl looking at her nonstop? The girl could be thinking the same, thing, especially considering that Emily was the one who started. She couldn't pretend she wasn't looking, not knowing when the girl looked back was bothering Emily, because if she had noticed at that time, she would've stop right away, but she didn't, she didn't know what to do, so she kept looking and so did the girl, at a certain moment Emily started feeling like that was a contest, like who blinks first, but her neck was starting to complain, so she leaned her head a little, just for a second, and when she looked back at the window, the girl wasn't there anymore, she felt a little disappointed although she didn't know why. She had nothing left to do besides going home, so she did. A couple of steps later though she turned to see if the girl was there, and she a tall man, she could tell he was tall because she was able to see more of him than she had been able to the girl, but she couldn't tell if he'd seen her looking up there, she probable was there because the girl told him that some creepy girl was staring at her and he wasn't there to check. _That must be the husband/boyfriend, yeah a beautiful couple, in a nice house another picture perfect family_, Emily though, a little jealous. She looked ahead and went back to walking to her house.

* * *

"Thanks for helping me organize my stuff" Paige thanked the kind new neighbor who offered to help her with some boxes, while she grabbed one and went to put it near the window, that's when she stopped to look at the view, she'd be looking at that view for quite a while from that moment on, the building right in front of hers looked like a business one, there were some houses around, a coffee shop and a gym, _good, a gym very near my place, maybe now I can stay in one for more than two weeks_, she thought. When she looked to the other direction, she noticed a girl standing basically in front of her building looking right at her window but not exactly at her, she found that very interesting, or this girl was ignoring the fact that she was there or she was looking at her in a very weird way. Her question was answered when the girl move her head just a tiny bit, but Paige could see that now she was looking directly at her, it was even more interesting that she kept looking at her, Paige liked that, the girl just stood there looking at her, _Why didn't she stop? Maybe there's something around me, or maybe she knew the people who lived here and was wondering who I was…._ Paige mind could create a thousand reasons why the girl was staring, it was a little sad though, the fact that probably she would never know the answer.

"No problem, Paige right? Anything you need, I'm right…" He stopped when he saw the Paige was completely lost in her thoughts looking by the window "… hey, anybody home?"

"What? Oh sorry" Paige said coming out of the window "What were you saying, Miiill…" She wasn't sure of his name.

"Mike, you can call me Mike, you're Paige right?" He corrected her, clearly a little disappointed about it "I was saying that if you ever need anything thing I'm right across the hall" He said going to the window to see if there was something happening down there, to get her attention, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, same place as always .

"Thanks, but you've done way more than enough, I don't think I'll ever bother you again after all this"

"Please, bother me, at any time, really" The second he finished the sentence he regretted it, he might've sounded a little desperate, but Paige was so beautiful and ever since he first saw her coming here to look at the empty apartment he'd been dying to talk to her and get to know her, she wasn't that tall blond light eyes skinny type of girl. She was natural and didn't look or act like a bitch, like most of the girls he knew, he would do anything to get her to date him, but he might've scared her a little with that sentence.

"If I need anything I'll let you know" Of course she wouldn't, he was clearly into her, and she was horrible talking to people that liked her in that way, she would always over interpret things, or saying stupid things, he sounded nice, but she'd never had a relationship, at least not a serious one, and she had this rule to never go out with anyone that lived near her, so a neighbor would be the last person she'd date

"Cool" He said heading out. "A couple of friends of mine are going to go to the new club tonight; if you're interested you could come"

"I don't think so, there's still a lot that need to be done here" That wasn't a total lie.

"If you want I could help. No problem" He definitely looked desperate, but that girl was going to be his.

"No, really, I need to adapt, make it my own" He needs to go.

"Alright then, I guess I'll see you around neighbor" He said now, with one foot already out of the apartment. "And again, welcome to the building" he said, finally leaving.

At beginning when Mike offered to help, she thought there wouldn't be any problems, and he looked strong, she needed someone to hang the shelves, so why not, right? As the afternoon went by everything was okay, until that end. It became obvious, what she'd worried, he was into her, okay, not so obvious, she had thought this a couple of times before and it turned out they weren't into her, but she was pretty sure about Mike, only with tie she'd be absolutely sure.

She turned herself to have a complete look at her new apartment, ad all she could think was how empty it was, she didn't have that many things to fill the whole space and design wasn't really her area, maybe it was just because it was new, and this feeling would go away eventually, she went t the window again, she'd always liked to look out the windows, observe people going and coming, life passing by, it always made her problems go away or at least it would make her feel better.

She moved there because she got a job as the manager of a company that was two blocks away from her new place, she almost didn't believe how lucky she was to find this place so close to her job, she was supposed to start there in one month, until then she needed to go there a couple of days in the week to train, and get to know the staff. It was actually nice to be in a new place, she could start from scratch, a new life a new Paige.


End file.
